by Bibek Debroy
Chapter 15
‘“Yama’s servant said, ‘A brahmana who receives from a person who has fallen down, 262 becomes an ass. A person who officiates at a sacrifice undertaken by a fallen person, becomes a worm, once he has been released from hell. A brahmana who deceives his preceptor, and desires his wife or his possessions in thought or words, becomes a dog. A person who dishonours his parents is born as a donkey. A person who abuses his parents is born as a sharika bird. A person who disrespects his brother’s wife becomes a pigeon. A person who oppresses her becomes a tortoise. A person who eats his master’s food and does not seek his master’s welfare is filled with confusion. After death, when he is born again, he becomes a monkey. A person who appropriates what has been left with him in trust is born as a worm, after he has been freed from hell. Freed from hell, a person who indulges in calumny becomes a rakshasa. A man who violates trust is born as a fish. The senses of a person who steals paddy, barley, sesamum seed, masha beans, kulatha pulses, mustard, chickpeas, beans, kalama paddy, 263 mudga beans, wheat, flax and other crops is deluded. He is born as a rat with a large face, resembling an ichneumon. A person who has intercourse with another person’s wife is born as a terrible wolf and then progressively becomes a dog, a jackal, a crane, a vulture, a snake and a heron. An evildoer who, because of his wicked intelligence, rapes his brother’s wife, becomes a male cuckoo after he has been freed from hell. A man who is so overwhelmed with desire that he commits the sin of raping his friend’s wife, his preceptor’s wife or the king’s wife, is born as a pig. A person who obstructs a sacrifice, a gift or a wedding becomes a worm. A person who bestows his daughter again is born as a worm. If a person eats his food without having first offered it to gods, ancestors and brahmanas, is born as a crow after he has been freed from hell. The elder brother is like a father and once he has been freed from hell, a person who disrespects him is born as a curlew. A shudra who has intercourse with a brahmana lady is born as a worm. If he has offspring through her, he is born as an insect that lives inside wood. Thereafter, he is born as a worm, a pig, a madgu 264 and a chandala. When he has been freed from hell, an ungrateful and degraded man who harms those who do him a good turn is progressively born as a worm, an insect, a flying insect, a scorpion, a fish, a crow, a tortoise and a pulkasa. A man who kills an unarmed man is born as an ass. A person who kills a woman or a child is born as a worm. A man who steals food is born as a fly. I will particularly speak about food. Listen. Freed from hell, a person who steals milk is born as a cat. A person who steals food mixed with sesamum and oilcakes is born as a rat. A person who steals ghee is born as a mongoose. A person who steals goat meat is born as a crow or a cormorant. A person who steals fish or meat is born as a crow. A person who steals the meat of a sheep is born as a hawk. A person who steals salt is born as a water-kite. A person who steals curds becomes a worm. A person who steals milk is born as a crane. A person who steals oil is born as a cockroach. A man who steals honey is born as a gnat. A person who steals cakes is born as an ant. A person who steals havishya 265 is born as a house lizard. A person who steals asava 266 is born as a partridge. An evil-souled person who steals iron is born as a crow. A person who steals a brass vessel is born as a green pigeon. A person who steals a silver vessel is born as a pigeon. A person who steals a gold vessel is born in the species of a worm. A person who steals silk becomes a chakravaka. A person who steals a silken garment becomes a silkworm. A person who steals a girdle becomes a peacock. 267 A person who steals fine cloth is born as a parrot. A person who steals a garment made out of wool or goat hair is born as a bear. A person who steals a garment made out of cotton is born as a curlew. A person who steals fire is born as a crane or an ass. A person who steals dyes or pot-herbs is born as a peacock. A person who steals a red garment becomes a jivajivaka. 268 A person who steals auspicious fragrances is born as mole. A person who steals garments is born as a rabbit. A person who steals straw becomes crippled. A person who steals wood becomes a woodworm. A person who steals flowers becomes poor. A man who steals a vehicles becomes lame. A person who steals vegetables becomes a green pigeon. A person who steals water becomes a chataka bird. A person who steals land goes to extremely terrible hells like Rourava. Progressively, he becomes grass, shrubs, creepers, climbing plants, hollow reeds and trees. When his sins are exhausted, he becomes a man. A man who severs a bull’s testicles is a eunuch. For twenty-one births, he becomes a worm, an insect, a flying insect, an aquatic creature, a deer and a cow. After this, be becomes a condemned chandala or pulkasa. He is lame and blind and suffers from leprosy and consumption. He is oppressed by diseases of the mouth, the eye and the genital organs. He suffers from epilepsy and then becomes a shudra. These are also seen to be the progressive states for those who steal cattle, gold and other objects and those who steal learning by not paying their preceptor. If a foolish man gives his wife away to another man, he suffers from many hardships and after being freed from these, becomes a eunuch. If a man offers oblations into a fire that has not been properly kindled, he suffers from indigestion and dyspepsia. A person indulging in calumny, an ingrate, a person who pains the inner organs of another, a cruel person, a shameless person, a person who has intercourse with another person’s wife, a person who wishes to steal another person’s possessions, a person who abuses the gods, a person who uses words to deceive others, a miser, a slayer of men and an inclination to praise prohibited conduct—these are signs to show that a person has just emerged from hell. Compassion towards creatures, virtuous speech, hankering for the afterworld, truthfulness, the welfare of beings, believing in the words and the insight of the Vedas, serving preceptors, devarshis, Siddhas and rishis, association with the virtuous, the practice of auspicious deeds, friendliness and other such rites of virtuous dharma—a learned person says that these are the signs of being dislodged from hell. O king! I have thus spoken to you about virtuous people and sinners. This is how the performers of good and bad deeds reap the fruits of their own deeds. You have seen everything now. Let us go elsewhere. Since you havc seen hell, we should go somewhere else.’”
‘The son continued, “Placing him in front, the king prepared to leave. At this, the men suffering from pain screamed out loudly. ‘O lord of the earth! Show us your favours. Remain here for a while. The breeze that touches your limbs gladdens our hearts. O tiger among men! It takes away all the torments and hardships of our limbs. O lord of the earth! Show us your favours.’ Hearing these words, he asked Yama’s servant, ‘How is it that my presence delights them? What auspicious deed have I performed in the world of the mortals? How is it that my presence here delights them?’ Yama’s servant replied, ‘Your body has been nourished by food taken after the ancestors, the gods, the guests and the servants have eaten. Your mind was always devoted to them. Therefore, the breeze that touches your limbs caused delight. O king! That is the reason these evildoers no longer feel any pain. You followed the rituals and performed horse sacrifices and other sacrifices. Yama’s machines, weapons, fires and crows are the causes behind great hardships like oppression, severing, burning and so on. O king! However, on seeing you, their energy is taken away and they become mild.’ The king responded, ‘It is my view that the happiness obtained from heaven or Brahma’s world is nothing compared to the happiness obtained by providing relief to creatures. O one who is fair of face! Therefore, if my presence here removes their hardships, I will remain in this spot, as immobile as a pillar.’ Yama’s servant said, ‘O Indra among kings! Come. Enjoy the objects of pleasure you have earned through your own auspicious deeds. Let these evildoers enjoy their miseries.’ The king replied, ‘As long as they suffer from these great miseries, I will remain here. These residents of hell are becoming happy because of my presence. There is no doubt that the life of a man who does not show favours to afflicted people who seek refuge with him, even if they are on the side of the enemy, is a life to be ashamed of. If the mind is not made up to save those who are afflicted, sacrifices, donations and austerities
bring no prosperity in this life or in the next. If a man’s heart is so hard that he is not touched by children, the aged and the afflicted, I do not think he is a man. He is a rakshasa. If I am near them, I will suffer from the torment of the heat, the fierce stench, and other miseries of hell that lead to hunger and thirst. Those hardships are so great that I will lose my senses and will be destroyed. O fortunate one! But even then, I think this is superior to the bliss of heaven. If many are delighted because of my being miserable, tell me, what have I not been able to accomplish? Therefore, leave without any delay.’ Yama’s messenger said, ‘Dharma and Shakra have come to take you away. O king! Hence, you must go. Let us go.’ Dharma said, ‘I have been properly worshipped by you. Therefore, I will take you to heaven. Ascend this vimana. Let us leave immediately.’ The king replied, ‘O Dharma! Thousands of men are suffering in hell. They are shrieking, asking me to save them. I will not go.’ Indra said, ‘These are evildoers. They have come to hell because of what they have done. O king! Because of your auspicious deeds, you must go to heaven.’ The king replied, ‘If I know that you are Dharma and if I know that you are the god Shatakratu, you should tell me the extent of my auspicious deeds.’ Dharma said, ‘They are as many as drops of water in the ocean, stars in the firmament, drops of water in showers of rain, grains of sand in the Ganga and the numbers of different species. O great king! They are innumerable. There is no number that can be attached to your good deeds. O king! Now that you have shown compassion towards the ones who are in hell, they have multiplied a hundred thousand times. O best among kings! Therefore, go and enjoy the world of the immortals. Because of their own deeds, let their sins be exhausted in hell.’ The king replied, ‘If these men do not gain from being near me, why do they wish for my presence? O lord of the gods! Thus, if I have performed any good deeds, let these sinners in hell be relieved of their miseries.’ Indra said, ‘O lord of the earth! Because of this, you have obtained a region that is even greater. Behold. These sinners have been released from hell.’ At this, a shower of flowers rained down on the lord of the earth. Placing him on a vimana, Hari 269 took him to his own world. I, and the others there, were freed from our hardships. Depending on the fruits of our own deeds, we were born as different species. O supreme among brahmanas! I have thus told you everything about hell and about how different species originate from the respective sins. I have told you everything that I witnessed earlier. I have told you about my earlier experience and about how I developed jnana. O immensely fortunate one! After this, what else shall I tell you?”’